Method of assembling a building

ABSTRACT

A building is constructed with spaced uprights, each upright having a projecting tongue at the top. Specially formed inverted channel sections set astraddle of these tongues and bolted thereto constitute rafter elements extending crosswise of the building and in gable and hip roofs these rafters slope upwardly from the posts and are joined at the ridge. Prefabricated roof panels have spaced inverted channels that nest over the rafters. The roof panels are lowered into position in a vertical plane, rested edgewise on the rafters and then swung down to rest on the rafters. A gabled roof usually has two panels on each of its two slopes, each panel extending the full length of the roof. The outermost panels on each slope are first put into place and then the inner ones. The lower panels are swung from the vertical plane toward the ridge of the roof and the upper ones are swung down from the ridge toward the eaves to properly overlap. Uprights at the building corners are outwardly-facing angle sections through the flanges of which bolts are passed and screwed into nuts welded on the abutting vertical ends of the end wall panels, after which a cover member is secured in place.

United States Patent [1 1 Lerch et al.

n11 3,812,638 [451 May 28, 1974 METHOD OF ASSEMBLING A BUILDING [73]Assignee: Advance Housing Corporation,

Wilkins Township, Pa.

[22] Filed: Mar. 8, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 339,152

Related U.S. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 160,846, July 8,1971, Pat. No.

[52] U.S. Cl 52/747, 52/93, 52/475, 52/478, 52/512 [51] Int. Cl E04b7/04 [58] Field of Search 52/93, 92, 506,512,555, 52/475, 478, 480, 745,747

1,477,830 3/1967 France 52/92 Primary ExaminerHenry C. SutherlandAssistant Examiner-Leslie A. Braun Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Parmelee,Miller, Welsh & Kratz [5 7 ABSTRACT A building is constructed withspaced uprights, each upright having a projecting tongue at the top.Specially formed inverted channel sections set astraddle of thesetongues and bolted thereto constitute rafter elements extendingcrosswise of the building and in gable and hip roofs these rafters slopeupwardly from the posts and are joined at the ridge. Prefabricated roofpanels have spaced inverted channels that nest over the rafters. Theroof panels are lowered into position in avertical plane, restededgewise on the rafters and then swung down to rest on the rafters. Agabled roof usually has two panels on each of its two slopes, each panelextending the full length of the roof. The outermost panels on eachslope are first put into place and then the inner ones. The lower panelsare swung from the vertical plane toward the ridge of the roof and theupper ones are swung down from the ridge toward the eaves to properlyoverlap. Uprights at the building corners are outwardly-facing anglesections through the flanges of which bolts are passed and screwed intonuts welded on the abutting vertical ends of the end wall panels, afterwhich a cover member is secured in place.

8 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMY 2 8 i914 SHEET 2 [IF 2 1 METHODOF ASSEMBLING A BUILDING This is a division of application Ser. No.160,846, filed July 8, 1971 now US. Pat. No. 3,771,269.

This invention is for a prefabricated building and method of assemblingit, and is designed to provide a building and assembly method that willcontribute to economical production and avoid some costly areas ofconstruction heretofore encountered.

Various low cost housing constructions utilizing prefabricated buildingunits have heretofore been devised, but insofar as we are informed theroof construction has undesirably limited the width of buildings orrequired a considerable amount of on-the-job skilled labor to construct.

This is due largely to the fact that prefabricated roof panels ofacceptable length up to as much as sixty feet can be hauled to thebuilding site on trucks, but a width of more than 8 feet exceeds normalhighway limitations if they are placed flat on the truck bed, and evenif they were hauled in an edgewise position on the truck, they could notbe much wider because of overpass height limitations as well as theexcessive weight involved to provide strength for hauling and subsequenterection of such unwieldy structures.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION With the present invention roof panelsare prefabricated with a sheet metal deck and a supportingunderstructure comprising inverted channels on the same center-to-centerspacing as the rafters of the building, the channels and rafters beingshaped to interfit so that after the rafters have been secured in place,the prefabricated roof panels can be set directly on them and boltedinto place. More specifically, but without limitation as to other forms,in a simple four-sided building have a gabled roof each panel will havea length corresponding to the full length of the building, or fulllength of a section of the building where the roof is a simple gabledroof, but not exceeding the length that may be hauled on a truck. Eachpanel is rigid enough to be placed edgewise on the truck fortransportation several at one time from a place of manufacture to theplace where they are to be used. According to this invention there willgenerally be two longitudinally extending panels on each slope of adouble-sloped or gabled roof, or four panels in all, but in narrowbuildings there could be fewer, and there may be more in largerstructures. Each prefabricated panel comprises a sheet metal deckcarried on an under-structure formed of rolled sheet metal sections.Some of these sections comprise inverted channels at spaced intervals.In the final structure these inverted channel sections extend up anddown the slope of the roof and, for convenience, they will be sometimestermed herein as secondary rafters. Extending in the direction of thelength of the panel between the inverted channels and welded thereto arepurlins comprised of channels set edgewise.

In such a building the walls on each of two long sides include rigiduprights at the corners and at intervals between the corners, theuprights along one side being directly opposite those along the other.Each of these uprights has a special fitment at the top over which arafter element in the form of a modified rolled metal channel section isset, the rafter straddling the fitment and being bolted thereto. Therafter elements are in two sections of such length that, in a gabledroof, the free ends of two opposed rafter sections come into abuttingrelation at a level higher than the tops of the uprights, that is at theridge of the roof, where the abutting ends are secured together. Forpurpose of convenience these sections will herein sometimes be referredto as primary rafters. No ridge pole is necessary, and no longitudinalspacing membersextend from one set of rafters to another, but thecenter-to-center spacing of the primary rafters is the same as thecenter-to-center spacing of the secondary rafters of the roof panels sothat when a roof panel is set down on the primary rafters, the secondaryrafters will nest or fit over the primary ones, thereby rigidlyintegrating the primary rafters and the roof panels. Subsequentlyapplied bolts passing through both the primary and secondary rafters areput in place to unite the assembled roof structure.

In the preferred procedure the outer or lowermost panels which willprovide the eaves for the building will first be put into place, onepanel being first lifted edgewise by a crane and positioned so that thelower edge of the panel contacts the outer ends of the primary raftersand the lower ends of the secondary rafters are in register with theprimary rafters. When so positioned the panel is then swung down to itsfinal sloping position with its secondary rafters fitting over theprimary raftersThen the other outer panel is similarly placed inposition on the opposite slope of the roof. This gives rigidity to theroof and the second or upper panels are put in place and lowered,following the procedure hereinafter more fully explained.

With a roof so constructed and assembled, the width of the building isnot limited by the width of the load that may be carried on anover-the-road truck, and except for a crane operator, little skilledlabor is required on the building site for erecting the roof. Moreover,it becomes possible to provide overhanging eaves on the building withoutundesirably reducing the inside width of the house or other building.

The uprights at the corners preferably are outwardly facing anglesections drilled at intervals along both flanges, and bolts enteredthrough these openings screw into the end faces of side and endwall-forming panels of the building. After the siding panels have thusbeen secured in place, a cover is secured in place along the full heightof each such corner column to give the column a finished or squareappearance and protect the bolts from further access.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention may be more fullyunderstood in the following detailed description in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a single roof panel with portions broken awayto show the underlying structure;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary longitudinal verticalsection through a roofpanel constructed according to FIG. I, the section being insubstantially the plane of line Il-II FIG. 7 is a fragmentaryperspective view of a portion of the completed roof assembly; i

FIG. 8 is an end view looking into the incomplete building structurewith the primary rafters on two opposed uprights in place; a

FIG. 9 is a transverse section through a single roof panel in the planeof line lX-IX of FIG. 1, the panel being a lower or eaves-forming panel;

FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIG. 8 illustrating the placing of the roofpanels in place on the rafters;

FIG. 11 is a partial transverse section through a completed gable roof;

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary view, showing in better detail opposite ends ofa primaryrafter and the cooperating ends of the upper and lower roofpanels; and

FIG. 13 is a horizontal section at one end of the building showing theend wall extending between two corner uprights and the manner of makingthe assembly, and also showing the ends of the side wall panels of thebuilding.

Referring now to the drawings, the roof structure here shown is a gableroof and it comprises four generally similar elongated rectangularpanels, designated in FIG. 10 as Al and A2 and B1 and-B2, extendinglengthwise of the building. Since they are all of generally similarconstruction, only one of them, Al shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 9 will bedescribed, but it may be noted as here shown, that panels B1 and B2, arenarrower than panels Al and A2, but this is optional. In these FIGS.designates a corrugated sheet metal deck of a familiar form. At each endof the deck there is an inwardly-facing channel 6 turned edgewise, andat intervals under the deck there are inverted channels 7 parallel withthe end channels, the channels 7 being rolledheavy gauge sheet metalsections. They are the sections hereinbefore referred to as thesecondary roof rafters and typically will be spaced several feet apart.The inverted channels 7 are connected by purlins extending lengthwise ofeach roof panel. In the panels Al and A2 the purlins or elements 8 alongthe outeredge of the panels, which comprise the eaves of the roof, arechannel sections of heavy gauge sheet metal set edgewise and facinginwardly. that is, the flanges of these channel sections turn toward thelongitudinal center of the panels and are continuous for the full lengthof the panel. All of the other purlins, designated 9, extend from onesecondary rafter 7 to the next, abutting at their ends against theinverted channels, and they are welded thereto. The purlins are also ofrolled heavy gauge sheet metal and are in the form of channel sectionsset edgewise.

Those purlin sections 9 which are along the edges of the panels, havetheir flanges turned inwardly, that is toward the longitudinal center ofthe panel. This enables the vertical web portions of the purlins of twoconfronting panels to be jointed together in back-toback relation asshown in FIG. 11, both at the ridge of the roof and at the joint betweenthe two panels on the same slope of the roof. I

This rigidly connected system of secondary rafters and purlins forms astrong under-structure for the sheet metal deck which is made furtherrigid by the spaced corrugations formed in the deck itself. The deck isspot welded at intervals to the understructure. Typically a panel willbe as much as feet in length, this being about the maximum that can behauled on over-theroad trucks. Typically'the panels may be of the orderof 6 to 8 feet wide, but these dimensions will vary according to the.size and cost of the house. For example with four 6% foot panels thebuilding may have an overhang at theeaves of the order of 2 feet andstill be 22 feet from the exterior of one side wall to the exterior ofthe other. Moreover, as shownin the drawings the panels Al and A2 neednotbe the same width as panels B1 and B2 but may be wider or narrower.

After the deck and under-structure have been assembled at thefabricating plant, the deck is covered with roofing material, such ascomposition shingles 10 adhesively secured thereto, both forsound-deadening and to render them more architecturally acceptable.Panels such as these can be prefabricated and readily transferred to aflat bedtruck and hauledeither flat or edgewise to the building site.

' Before the roof panels can be put in place a series of spaced rigiduprights will have been firmly anchored to a foundation or on piers onwhich the house is to set, these uprights being at least, and usuallyonly, the height required for a one-story dwelling, since this structureis particularly designed for, but not resricted to, a socalled ranchtype or single-story building. They are along .eachlong side of thebuilding, or the plane of the side walls (not shown) with the posts ofone row being in transverse alignment with those of the other row. l

The corner posts or uprights 15 are preferably heavy metal anglesections mounted on a base 16 which 'is bolted to the foundation orother support with the two flanges of the channels turned outwardly (seeFIGS. 5 and 6). The posts intermediate the corner ones (FIGS. 3 and 4),designated 17, are of any desired section, preferably a square tubularsection or perhaps an H- section. They, too, are each rigidly welded orotherwise secured to a base 18 for bolting them to a foundation. Thetops of all of the uprights are in verticaland horizontal alignment, andwelded or otherwise secured to the top of each post is a fitment 19which may be amalleable casting or of other rigid material, havinga'base 19a and an upstanding tongue 19b through which is a hole 20. Allof the tongues are set crosswiseof the length of the building so thatthe holes 20 of all of these fitments at one side are in a line andthose on the other side are likewise in a line. The centerto-centerdistance between tongues 19b is exactly the same as the center-to-centerdistance of the inverted channels or secondary rafters'7 of the roofpanels.

There are provided rafters 25 for the building, the length of therafters being about equal to the sum of the width of the panels to besupported on them. For example, if there are to be two roof panels oneach slope of the roof, and each panel is 6 feet wide, the rafters on asimple gabled roof would be 12 feet long. For convenience we refer tothe rafters 25 as the primary rafters. They are preferably heavy'gaugesheet metal sections of a deep but narrow inverted channel form with aledge along the bottom of each side-flange, and there is an upturnedflange along the outer edge of each ledge, a shape sometimes referred toas afdouble J section. They may be made from a single strip of metal Onerafter is set on each upright, so that the tongue of the fitment entersthe inverted channel of the rafter, and a bolt 26 is passed throughholes in the rafter which register with the hole in the fitment on whichthe rafter sets. The free ends of the rafters most remote from the bolts26 on opposed uprights are directed toward each other and are inabutting relation at the ridge of the roof, sloping downwardly andoutwardly from the ridge toward the eaves. A splice plate or connectionplate 27 is inserted in the inverted channel portions of the double Jsections and tightly bolted to the confronting rafter ends to rigidlyconnect them, thereby integrating each two opposed rafters into aunitary structure, herein sometimes referred to as a rafter element.

Sometimes the two opposing primary rafters may be joined together at theridge while they are on the ground, and the pair or element when soconnected, then raised by a crane or otherwise into position and setover the tongues of the fitments to which they are to be secured, andthen bolted in place. In either case the primary rafters are relativelylight weight sections that may, if desired, be hauled to the buildingsite along with the roof panels and joined together at the buildingsite,either after they are individually secured to their respective uprights,or spliced together on the ground and then positioned on and secured tothe two opposed uprights on which the assembly is carried.

It will be noted that the intermediate upright posts 17 v have anangle-shaped receiving plate 28 welded or otherwise secured to the upperend below the fitment 19, the plate providing a ledge 28a on which theend ofa transversely-extending inverted structural T section 29 isrested, these sections spanning the distance between two oppositeuprights. The ends of the T section are bolted to the ledges 28a onwhich they rest to provide ties or tension bars that resist the endthrust of the rafters against the uprights on which they are carried,and incidentally these tie bars are useful in supporting ceiling panels(not shown) in the finished building. At the ends of the building theend walls tie opposite corner posts together as hereinafter more fullydescribed.

Having secured the ties and primary rafters in place, the building isnow ready to receive the roof panels. This is accomplished by firstraising one of the outer panels Al or A2 edgewise, usually by a crane(not shown) having a chain or cable and hooks which are engaged inopenings for that purpose in the innermost purlins 9.

With the panel suspended in a vertical plane, and with its long axisparallel with the length of the building, the panel is lowered until itslower edge, including the section 8 at the lower edge is just below theoverhanging ends of the rafters, and the inverted channels or secondaryrafters 7 are centered with respect to the rafters, as shown in FIG. 10and the pane] is then swung inwardly with its upper edge swinging towardthe ridge of the roof. As the panel comes to rest on the rafters, eachinverted channel 7 fits over or nests on one of the rafters as clearlyseen in FIG. 7. With the first roof panel Al in place, one or more bolts30 are passed through the inverted channels 7 and the upper portions ofthe inverted channel or double J rafter sections 25 to thereby tie theroof panels to the rafters and thereby to the building structure.

With one roof panel in place, the rafters are now rigidly spaced withrespect to one another, and the next roof panel A2 at the other side ofthe building is then placed on and secured to the rafters of theopposite slope of the roof in the same manner. With the panels A1 and A2in place, the ridge panels B1 and B2 are then put in place. As best seenin FIG. 10' these panels .are also lifted edgewise and lowered onto therafters in an initially generally vertical plane, but the edge of thepanel at the ridgeis first lowered onto the rafters and then the panelis swung downwardly through an arc toward the upper edge of the panelbelow. The upper panels are lowered in this way from the ridge towardthe outer or lower section so that the edge of the upper panel andespecially its shingles will overlap the top of the lower panel. Whetherthe deck sheet of the upper one slightly overlaps the lower one is amatter of choice, but in any case the shingles or othercovering at thelower edge of the upper panel should overlap the upper edge of the lowerone.

However, before the panels B1 and B2 can be lowered-to their finalposition, the chains, hooks or cables by which they are lowered must bedisconnected, so that, as indicated in FIG. I0, hydraulic or mechanicaljack posts 31, preferably two or three of them with one near each end ofthe panel will support the panel when the hoisting gear of whatevernature is disconnected, and by approximate simultaneous operation of thejacks the final lowering of the ridge panels into position is effected.If, in a narrow building, there is but a single panel on each slope ofthe roof, only the second panel to be put into place is, if necessary,lowered with the use ofjacks. Should it be desirable to have more thantwo panels on one slope of the roof, each panel after the first would beplaced on the roof in the samemanner as the ridge panels in order tohave a'proper overlap of the panels.

In order to control the swinging of the panel sections from a verticalplane to a position at rest on the primary rafters, the top web portionof the primary rafter is cut away at the lower end of the rafter, asindicated at 32 in FIG. 12. The matching inverted channel 7 of the roofpanel has a round metal section, such as a short section of rod or abolt 33 extending across its interior against the web of the invertedchannel 7.'This cross piece is brought to the rest on the cut-away endof the rafter forming in effect to a pivot about which the panel swingsinto position, and the cut-away portion or notch accommodates the pinwhen the roof panel is fully seated. It is also a helpful gauge ingetting the panel initially into position to swing down. The upper endof each primary rafter is similarly notched at 32a to cooperate with afix pin or rod-like element 34 at the ridge end of the inverted channels7. This is of importance in effecting the downward swing of the roofpanel and providing, in effect, fixed pivots while preventing'the panelfrom sliding down the rafters.

The channel section purlins 9 at the upper edge of the lower panels andthe lower edges of the upper panels are at right angles to the plane ofthe panel and have their respective channel flanges turned toward thelongitudinal center of their respective panels so that, as shown in FIG.11, these purlins make back-to-back contact and are bolted together at35, thus tying the panels together andQin effect, integrating thesecondary rafters 7 into an effectively continuous section.

The purlins 9 at the upper edges of the upper panels are so angled andpositioned that they, too, come together in abutting back-to backcontact, the plane of these purlins when in place at the ridge of theroof cover strip 37 is placedalong the ridge. It may be cemented orotherwise secured in place, and in addition a mastic or other filling(not shown) may be provided along the juncture of the two abutting ridgepurlins to assure moisture exclusion. It is contemplated that the undersurface of the roof will be covered with a foamed plastic (not shown)and forming no part per se of the present invention. For providing afinished appearance to the building a thin gauge coated metal strip isriveted or secured in place along and over the channel 8 on the loweredgeof the roof panel (see SlGS. 7; and 11) and also such trim is placedover the channels 6 at the ends of the roof and it conceals the jointwhere the end channels 6 of the upper and lower panels abut.'These coverstrips may be secured to the assembled roof by metal screws, pop-rivetsorother easily appliedfastening means that can be applied in the field.

With the present invention the installation of the'roof requires but afew minutes after the uprights have been secured in place. The primaryrafters are easily put'in position and their abutting ends joined. Theinterfitting of the under-structure of the roof panels and the primaryrafters enables the panels to be raised vertically into place and thenswung down onto the rafters, pivoting in effect, into position to restontheprimary rafters. As the panels are put into place the entire roofbecomes an integrated strong, rigid structure.

As mentioned earlier, the angle section of the comer uprights 15, inaddition to supporting the end roof rafters, also facilitate the tyingtogether of the two sides of the building at the ends through the use ofend wall panels that may in part serve as tension members between theposts at the ends of the buildings in place of the inverted T sections.This is shown in FIG. 13 where the side wall panels are indicated at 40and the end panel, which desirably extends or has elements that extend,across the entire width of the building, is desigings with overhangingeaves where there may be four or more panels in the roof. By arrangingpanels that may be hauled edgewise on 'atruck, say four panels in all,and joining them on the roof where the primary rafters require no ridgepole or purlins, there is little skilled labor required on the job andfactory assembly of the roof panels enables them'to be constructedeconomically, especially'in massproduction, and to close tolerances. Theconstructionlends itself to use with prefabricated side and end wallsand-interior partitions which will be apparent to those skilled in theart.

We claim:

l. The method of constructing a building with spaced opposed side wallsand a peaked roof which comprises:

g I deck and asupporting understructure. therefor, the

nated 41. The panels 40 and 41 each have a vertical frame member 42 ofchannel section at the end thereof, and there are nuts 43 welded to theinner faces ofthese channelsBolts 44 pass through holesin the flanges ofthe corner post and are screwed into the fixed nuts 43 to draw theendframe'members 42 tightly against the upright corner posts. When thishas been done a cover member 45, which may be of relatively lightgaugemetal, also of angle section, is secured against the vertical framemember 42 to givethe angular upright a.

square appearance and prevent any one from securing access to the bolts44.

While we have described out invention primarily for use in a gabled'roof construction, it may also be used in the erection of hip-roofs, andsloped deck type roofs or elsewhere where primary rafter elements may befirst erected and then complete panels placed thereon and fitted overthe primary rafters, and in all cases the roof panel will have two ormore inverted channels,

such as 7, to nest over a minimum of tworafters. At the peak ends of ahip roof, for example, the rafters would converge and the invertedchannels 7 in that case would not be parallel. As previously explained,there may be single panels on each slope of the .roof of a. narrowbuilding, but thepresent invention is'more espe-' cially useful inconstructingwider building and buildunderstructure having invertedchannels on a cen ter-to-center spacing corresponding to the.centerto-center spacing of the rafters and purlins that extend at rightangles to the. inverted channels and span the distance between saidchannels,

- d. raising such a panel'in a vertical planealong one side of thebuilding and resting its then lower edge portion on the rafters wherethe inverted channels of the panel in position to straddle the rafterswith whichthey align,

e. swinging the panel from a vertical plane down onto the rafters withthe inverted channels nesting and fitting over the rafters until thepanel is completely supported on the rafters,.and

f. then securing the panel to the rafters by bolts passing throughsomeof the inverted channels and the n raftersover which the channelsare fitted. v

2. The method defined in claim! wherein there are at least two panelscovering each slope of the roof and wherein the panel-which is at thelowermost side of each slope is first put in place by suspending it in avertical plane with the edge of the panel which is to face away from thepeak in a finished building is lowermost, and when said panel has beenbrought to rest on the rafters and secured in place, the second panel onthat slope is suspended in a vertical. plane with the edge of the panelwhich is' faced toward the peak lowermost so that it swings from thepeak toward the previouslyplaced panel on said slope and that edge whichis low-' ermost when the panel comes to rest on the rafters will c.prefabricating roofing panels having a sheet metal deck and a supportingunderstructure therefor, the understructure having inverted channels ona center-to-center spacing corresponding to the centerto-centerspacing-of the rafters and purlins that extend at right angles to theinverted channels and span the distance between said channels,

d. raising such a panel in a vertical plane along one side of thebuilding and resting its then lower edge portion on the rafters with theinverted channels of the panel in position to straddle the rafters withwhich they align,

e. swinging the panel from a vertical plane down onto the rafters withthe inverted channels nesting and fitting over the rafters until thepanel is completely supported on the rafters, and

f. then securing the panel to the rafters by bolts passing through someof the inverted channels and the rafters over which the channels arefitted.

4. The method defined in claim 3 wherein said rafter elements slopeupwardly from the uprights to which they are secured to a peak tosupport a roof having two oppositely-sloping sides, and wherein thereare at least two panels covering each slope, the steps wherein the panelwhich is at the lowermost side of each slope is first put in position bysuspending it in a vertical plane with the edge of the panel which is toface away from the ridge in the finished building is lowermost and whenit has been brought to rest on the rafters and secured in place, thesecond panel on that slope is suspended in 5. The method defined inclaim 4 wherein the final panel on each slope to be put into positionafter being so suspended is partially swung down to its final positionand then supported and lowered to its final position from supportingmeans beneath the panel.

6. The method defined in claim 5 wherein adjustable jacks are operatedto effect the said final lowering of the panel into position.

7. The method defined in claim 4 wherein the roof panels at the ridgeare prevented from sliding on the rafters when the edge of the panel isfirst brought to rest on the rafters which comprises bringing apivot-like element at the ridge ends of the inverted channels intonotched formations in the rafters at the ridge and thereafter effectingthe swinging movement of the panel into its final position.

8. The method defined in claim 7 wherein the lowermost panels on eachslope also have pivot-like means close to the lowermost ends of theirinverted channels that are brought into cut-away portions of the lowerends of the rafter elements to facilitate the swinging of said panelsinto their final position on the rafters.

1. The method of constructing a building with spaced opposed side wallsand a peaked roof which comprises: a. providing upstanding tonguemembers at intervals along the top portions of the two side walls withthe tongue members on one wall being transversely aligned with those onthe other wall, b. connecting each tongue member on one side wall withthe opposite one on the other side wall by a rafter having anupwardly-sloping member attached to each tongue with the confrontingends of the two members being joined at the peak of the roof, c.prefabricating roofing panels haviNg a sheet metal deck and a supportingunderstructure therefor, the understructure having inverted channels ona center-to-center spacing corresponding to the center-to-center spacingof the rafters and purlins that extend at right angles to the invertedchannels and span the distance between said channels, d. raising such apanel in a vertical plane along one side of the building and resting itsthen lower edge portion on the rafters where the inverted channels ofthe panel in position to straddle the rafters with which they align, e.swinging the panel from a vertical plane down onto the rafters with theinverted channels nesting and fitting over the rafters until the panelis completely supported on the rafters, and f. then securing the panelto the rafters by bolts passing through some of the inverted channelsand the rafters over which the channels are fitted.
 2. The methoddefined in claim 1 wherein there are at least two panels covering eachslope of the roof and wherein the panel which is at the lowermost sideof each slope is first put in place by suspending it in a vertical planewith the edge of the panel which is to face away from the peak in afinished building is lowermost, and when said panel has been brought torest on the rafters and secured in place, the second panel on that slopeis suspended in a vertical plane with the edge of the panel which isfaced toward the peak lowermost so that it swings from the peak towardthe previously-placed panel on said slope and that edge which islowermost when the panel comes to rest on the rafters will properlyoverlap the uppermost edge of the previously-placed panel.
 3. The methodof constructing a building which comprises: a. fixing uprights inposition at spaced intervals along each of two opposite sides of thebuilding area, the posts along one side being transversely aligned withthose of the other side, b. joining each two opposed uprights with arafter element attached to the upper ends thereof, c. prefabricatingroofing panels having a sheet metal deck and a supporting understructuretherefor, the understructure having inverted channels on acenter-to-center spacing corresponding to the center-to-center spacingof the rafters and purlins that extend at right angles to the invertedchannels and span the distance between said channels, d. raising such apanel in a vertical plane along one side of the building and resting itsthen lower edge portion on the rafters with the inverted channels of thepanel in position to straddle the rafters with which they align, e.swinging the panel from a vertical plane down onto the rafters with theinverted channels nesting and fitting over the rafters until the panelis completely supported on the rafters, and f. then securing the panelto the rafters by bolts passing through some of the inverted channelsand the rafters over which the channels are fitted.
 4. The methoddefined in claim 3 wherein said rafter elements slope upwardly from theuprights to which they are secured to a peak to support a roof havingtwo oppositely-sloping sides, and wherein there are at least two panelscovering each slope, the steps wherein the panel which is at thelowermost side of each slope is first put in position by suspending itin a vertical plane with the edge of the panel which is to face awayfrom the ridge in the finished building is lowermost and when it hasbeen brought to rest on the rafters and secured in place, the secondpanel on that slope is suspended in a vertical plane with the edge ofthe panel which is faced toward the ridge lowermost so that it swingsfrom the ridge toward the previously placed panel on said slope and thatedge which is lowermost when the panel comes to rest on the rafters mayproperly overlap the uppermost edge of the previously placed panel. 5.The method defined in claim 4 wherein the final panel on each slope tobe put into position after being so suspended is partially swung down toits final posiTion and then supported and lowered to its final positionfrom supporting means beneath the panel.
 6. The method defined in claim5 wherein adjustable jacks are operated to effect the said finallowering of the panel into position.
 7. The method defined in claim 4wherein the roof panels at the ridge are prevented from sliding on therafters when the edge of the panel is first brought to rest on therafters which comprises bringing a pivot-like element at the ridge endsof the inverted channels into notched formations in the rafters at theridge and thereafter effecting the swinging movement of the panel intoits final position.
 8. The method defined in claim 7 wherein thelowermost panels on each slope also have pivot-like means close to thelowermost ends of their inverted channels that are brought into cut-awayportions of the lower ends of the rafter elements to facilitate theswinging of said panels into their final position on the rafters.